Divination
The divination school of magic contains spells that enable the caster to learn secrets long forgotten, interpret dreams, predict the future, to find hidden things or foil deceptive spells. Among them are included detect magic and scry. A wizard who specializes in divination is known as a diviner. Many divination spells have cone-shaped areas. These move with you and extend in the direction you look. The cone defines the area that you can sweep each round. If you study the same area for multiple rounds, you can often gain additional information, as noted in the descriptive text for the spell. The more general the question asked from a Divination spell, the more cryptic the answer. In particular, using it to determine what spells should be prepared for a given day will be of minimal use at best. Divination spells do not grant sufficient information to become familiar with an area, meaning they cannot be used to teleport. Some divinations may allow spellcasting through them, but they cannot cross temporal boundaries. A Hindsight spell may be used to see the past, but any spellcasting through it is limited to purely voyeuristic divinations such as detect magic. In short, you cannot alter the past with a divination. Sub Schools *Awareness: An awareness spell gives the caster a glimpse into the future. *Communication: A communication spell magically enhances communication between creatures, often by transcending linguistic barriers or distance. Comprehend Languages is a communication spell. *Detection: A detection spell reveals objects, creatures, or effects within an area. Many detection spells have cone-shaped areas. These move with you and extend in the direction you look. The cone defines the area that you can examine each round. If you study the same area for multiple rounds, you can often gain additional information, as noted in the descriptive text for the spell. Detect evil is a detection spell. *Knowledge: A knowledge spell grants the recipient information. Most knowledge spells give knowledge about the present, but some can reveal information about the future as well. *Scrying: A scrying spell creates an invisible magical sensor that sends you information. Unless noted otherwise, the sensor has the same powers of sensory acuity that you possess. This level of acuity includes any spells or effects that target you, but not spells or effects that emanate from you. However, the sensor is treated as a separate, independent sensory organ of yours, and thus it functions normally even if you have been blinded, deafened, or otherwise suffered sensory impairment. Any creature with an average Intelligence can notice the sensor. The sensor can be dispelled as if it were an active spell. Lead sheeting or magical protection blocks a scrying spell, and you sense that the spell is so blocked Any creature trained in Spellcraft can notice the sensor by making a DC 20 Spellcraft check. The sensor can be dispelled as if it were an active spell. Lead sheeting or magical protection blocks a scrying Lore It’s quite possible to “mind-ream” gently, if the reamer knows what he or she is doing. Damage usually occurs when the mind to be read is fighting the invasive mind, and the reamer “bears down” to get at memories and knowledge that’s being deliberately concealed. Mind-reaming is VERY hard against a mind that’s alert, hostile, and experienced at wielding magic, and harder against stronger personalities. It’s easier against a sleeping (or rather, dreaming, because a skilled reamer can ‘steer the dreams’ so the mind being read does the work of revealing) or willing and relaxed mind. Certain spells can block it, backlash against the reamer, or misdirect what is “seen.” Sylune’s ability to detect emotions, lies, and the like have been enhanced since her death, but her abilities to initiate and launch magic (as opposed to working with magic cast by others) sharply limited. She can “drift” into a sleeping, dreaming mind of a being who’s physically VERY close, and even ‘ride’ a reaming attempt by someone else into a mind, but she can no longer undertake mind-reams (or lots of other magics, for that matter) by herself. She’s still learning her limitations, and I regret that Ed hasn’t had the in-print opportunities to detail them as fully as he’d like to (Winterfox implied in another thread here in Novels that Sylune’s status as a spectral harpist hasn’t really meant much of a change, which is wrong – but also fair comment, given how little has been put into print, thus far.) What Ed hasn’t wanted to do is lay out an explicit process for mind-reaming – because as a roleplaying-first DM, he has said (to we Knights) that it’s the perfect “research it for yourself, for years, ho ho” field Category:Schools of magic